Some students at Central Middle School had the sweetest of assignments in their woodworking class.
Calvin Garcia tasked his first-year woodworking students with making a working candy dispenser out of a block of wood, a dowel rod, Plexiglass, some screws and a little glue. Students also had to use tools such as a router, miter saw and band saw to make the appropriate cuts on their blocks of wood, after making the appropriate measurements.
“Everything they have learned, they will apply to this project,” Garcia said.
Garcia gave the students a head start by cutting out the blocks of wood and Plexiglas for them. The students then had to attach the back, screw the Plexiglas to the block of wood, cut a hole in the Plexiglas where the candy would dispense, and attach a dowel rod to a disk so the disk would rotate to dispense candy.
The last step was painting or staining their finished projects.
Garcia said none of the projects are identical even though the students are using the same pattern.
“Some students have a very unique imagination. I want them to think outside the box and be unique,” Garcia said. “If they want to make the cut another way, then by all means, do it.”
He said one student took the candy idea to the next level and added their own artwork, like lollipops, to the machine. Another student asked if they could make the machine larger.
Garcia said most of his students are new to woodworking and have never used the tools before.
“Some were scared to touch the machines, but now they get right over here to the tables,” Garcia said.
Garcia said he chose the candy machine dispenser as a project because he thought the students would buy into it.
“If they buy into the project, they will put more effort into it. They can dispense their own candy,” Garcia said.
Cordelia Aitkins, eighth grader, was attaching the top to her dispenser, which has to be able to swing open to allow candy to be added.
“It is fairly easy,” she said of the project, although she had cracked her piece of Plexiglas. “The cutters don’t like me.”
Aitkins said she ended up in the class because it was between woodworking, JROTC or ag.
“This sounded like the most fun. I really like it. I like being able to make stuff and the creative part,” she said. While she does not see herself pursuing a career in woodworking, she thinks it will be a new hobby.
She plans to give her candy machine to her brother, 5, and will probably fill it with M&Ms or Skittles.
Woodworking also was new to Jahkye Perkins, eighth grade.
“It’s fun. I never actually made anything before,” he said. “Everything we’ve done in this class, I haven’t done except paint.” He said he planned to give his project to his sisters, who are 6 and 8 years old.
Malachi Adams, eighth grade, had the opportunity to make his candy machine twice after someone dropped his and broke it. He was gluing the bottom of the candy machine into place before attaching the top. He said the hardest part was trying not to break the Plexiglas because “it is kind of fragile.”
“It was really fun,” Adams said of the project. He had also made a tic-tac-toe game, but the candy machine was more fun because “you can interact with this one. I can put my favorite treats in it while we are playing a game.” He planned to give the machine to his brothers, 8 and 10 years old, so they could put candy in it.
Adams said woodworking was not entirely new to him; he had done some woodworking with his father and used some saws before. He said he plans to take woodworking and welding in high school.
“I like hands-on activities,” he said.